The Alaskan Way Viaduct has overshadowed the waterfront for more than 50 years, but now it is scheduled to come down in five years. It will take many more years, and good funding sources, for a new urban waterfront to grow.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct project runs through a part of today's SoDo district, an area radically transformed by early development of Seattle. The conclusion of a two-part series examines how the viaduct and the 520 bridge projects will create

Seattle Planning Director Marshall Foster said the city wants to speed up the process of redesigning the waterfront and, if all goes as planned, could issue an RFQ for design work this spring and hire a team in the fall.